Males dwindling on campuses, Adams says

Posted: Wednesday, February 23, 2000

By Kevin ConnerStaff Writer

University of Georgia President Michael Adams told students at Athens Academy Tuesday that too much structure in today's society and not enough productive downtime have decreased the number of males entering college.

''In the organized, structured and planned lives boys lead today, I'm wondering if they're just tired of being told what to do,'' Adams said.

Adams was the featured speaker at the private school's Schacht Lecture, an annual school tradition in which renowned speakers present a lecture in honor of the late Elmer C. Schacht, a former school trustee.

In his lecture, ''Young Men -- Young Minds at Risk?'' Adams reported a trend of decreasing numbers of men in college and increasing numbers of women. Currently, 60 percent of UGA students are women, and women account for 55 percent of the enrollment at colleges nationally.

And those percentages are steadily increasing, he said, adding that traditional male-dominated subjects like agriculture are seeing large increases in women students.

Adams said athletic events are more structured than when he was young and require less individual thought and problem-solving skills. And male students are traditionally encouraged more in athletic competition than females.

In Adams' youth, a backyard baseball game was generally unsupervised and required participants to solve problems themselves, he said.

''We just figured it out,'' he said. ''I believe that's what life is all about. Today, we don't do enough figuring it out.''

The pressure to compete in sports has increased greatly in recent years, he said.

''I can't help but believe the increased pressure to compete in sports has had a negative impact on young boys,'' he said. ''Academics, not athletics, are important for success in life."

''When I was a kid, we might play ball, but it was not always organized or structured ball, just having fun.''

All youths, regardless of how structured their lives are, should have some downtime everyday to reflect on intellectual and creative thought, he said.

But teens now tend to utilize their downtime in front of a television screen, which requires little comprehensive skills, he said.

Adams admitted he had ''more questions than answers'' about the decreasing number of men in college, but he gave a few suggestions on how parents could help change the trend.

He said parents should take a closer look at the role of athletics in young men's lives, and that boys should be encouraged to take more challenging courses.